2020-05-04 - Coffee Hazards

Lilith went for a run in the laziest walk-jog kind of way today and stopped to get coffee come mid-morning. She is, however, already on a second coffee because she dropped the first one and is eating a danish in one hand while they re-make her cappuccino. Mostly, she loiters in lean against the counter watching some poor sap with a mop picking up cup pieces before tending to the spilled hot liquid. She also doesn't sound overly apologetic, irritated with herself for having dropped in the first place.

But eventually she gets her replacement cup to turn and find a table with. Wearing pink and black nikes schemed with running leggings and a tied t-shirt that reads SAVAGE on the front, she gets out of her pink and black hoodie to sling it over a chair, humming to herself with new coffee obtained.

Graham is dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. Elise is dressed for yoga. This probably accounts for why, when they come into the coffee shop, Elise is frowning at Graham, and Graham is saying in his very best wheedlesome tone, "Well, baby, I dunno what to tell you. I gotta work sometimes. It's really a damn shame that those 'sometimes' overlap with yoga class, but if I were you?" He gets out his wallet, on account of he's obviously flush after whatever 'work' he was doing prior to his arrival, making his way to the counter. "I'd ask for a refund on the whole 'couples' thing, 'cause it's obviously not meant to be. What'm I ordering here?"

The latter question comes when he stops at the counter, flashing a winning smile at the barista. "Savage," he adds, nodding seriously at Lilith. Like that's a totally normal way to start conversations.

Finally escaping her captors released from the hospital after a 'miraculous' recovery, Abitha had immediately headed home, showered off the medical-grade cleaner stank and actually got to dress herself. That accomplished, the first stop of the day was coffee.

Pushing through the front entrance, and inhaling the air like a junkie finally getting a whiff of their favorite fix. She digs into her pocket to pull out her wallet while looking both ways carefully and leaning a little over the counter, whispering quietly to ask if they did birthday specials. The barista didn't know either, so she just orders her usual triple shot salted caramel latte and pays, because its not like she was hurting anyways. Sometimes its just nice to have free stuff.

"All I'm saying is that for somebody who claims to make his own 'schedule'," yes, there are actual air-quotes here as Elise slips in beside Graham, frowning away, "It just seems convenient that these 'sometimes' are always during yoga. It's an HOUR! I'm sure your 'work' can wait for an hour." Finished with her airquotes, she mutters something in Thai that is probably something very bad and drops her hands to the side. There's a glance up to the menu and then a frown back to Graham. "Iced hazelnut macchiato with coconut milk, remember?" It's Vegan, just like Elise has been for the past three weeks. Just like Graham is supposed to be.

Her attention slides past Graham over to Lilith, offering the woman a peppy little smile. "I like your shirt."

"Better believe it." Lilith tells Graham like her shirt is a warning to the world and that's perfectly deadpan fine. It might be a warning to the world anyway, one of those cute irony shirts, who knows in a place like Gray Harbor. After looking between him and Elise, abruptly, she starts to crack up and drops down into her seat over by one of the windows at a round table that's made for more than just her, but those tiny tables don't have elbow room and she's making that backhanded social gesture to possibly be joined for company while seated and hanging around in public.

"Thanks, though, I like it too. I guess you're 'this one's girlfriend?" Lilith says to Elise while settling, flashing a slanting of smile that's residual from her laughter, hand fanning around a little bit with explanation over Graham's way, "I was laughing because not only was I imagining him in the poses, but I was imagining him bitching the whole time. But maybe I'm wrong, Joey is a flexible SOB."

The woman pauses a moment to look at Abitha and the high ponytail and seems to feel an urge to yank tug her own to pep it back up too after a run, making proper introduction to Elise, "I'm Lilith. Where's yoga, here in the strip mall? I have aggression issues, maybe I should try it. Does it make you zen or just stretch you out for neat sex poses?"

Graham, patting down his pockets till he finds the one with his phone in it, "You're right. Next time? I'll totally call the office and let 'em know that I'll be in late." Not that he actually does that. He just smooches her loudly on the cheek, says, "I'm sorry, baby, I'll do better next time," like he means it (he doesn't), and waits in line behind Abitha with a squint at Elise's order, lips moving while he repeats that as if committing it to memory. Chances are high that he fucks it up in the repetition, but at least he tries. For himself, though, it's just gonna be coffee, and he lowers his voice a bunch to explain to the girl at the counter that he wants actual milk, not this fake nut-juice-bullshit, thanks.

Also, with a side-eye at Elise and Lilith, he shares, "First off, 'this one' has a name. Quit objectifying me. Second off - " He waves vaguely about all the yoga questions, shoving them toward Elise to answer.

Abitha snorts amusedly at Graham's antics at the counter as she waits patiently for her drink, almost jittery in her impatience. When she receives it finally and takes the first sip, she sighs deeply at the prophesized reunion with her only love, basking in the warm glow of caffeine. It had only been a few days and she was so, so grateful to have it again.

Also caffeine withdrawal was a bitch.

Opening her eyes, she makes a brief sweep of the area to find a seat, or people, or both. She considers Lilith, as there was probably a conversation to be had at some point? Abitha takes a step or two toward that table, then gets in range enough to hear mention of sex positions. She takes an immediate right turn and finds a table nearby instead. Real casual.

Elise scrunches her nose up at the noisy cheek smooching, but it's rather obvious that she enjoys it in spite of the face considering that she tilts into it. "I'm going to hold you to that," she warns, wagging a finger and booping him right on the nose before he goes up to the counter. "Make sure it's coconut milk," she pops up over his shoulder to remind the barista, and then leans away to turn her attention back to Elise. "I'm Elise," 'that one's' girlfriend introduces while simultaneously rolling her eyes at the objectified one. "And yeah, there's a studio on the corner. I wouldn't know if he's flexible or not, considering he's yet to attend a single class, but..." she waves a hand, cracking a grin at the question on zen-or-sex-stretching. "A little bit of both."

Lilith clicks her tongue and sighs a little about de-objectifying Graham with things like names, mostly for effect, "Alright, Graham. But... let's say next time you're in here and you have some short yoga shorts on so you won't be hindered on the mat. I'm objectifying all that. I believe it's called 'asking for it'? That's what I've heard, anyway, when I wear skirts." The brunette woman in the running clothes watches Abitha kind of veer with escape from direct exposure to her commentary/inquiry about how good yoga makes people at sex and vaguely looks humored all over again, "Abitha, right?"

To Elise's answer, though, Lilith gives a satisfied nod of her head and lapses into considering, "I might stop by there on my way out of here, look at the schedule. I'm pretty free about running in and out of the pawn and have been doing more from home lately anyway on my laptop. Maybe I'll see you there and you won't feel all punked by Sir Graham." Speaking of work seems to remind Lilith of something, though, and she snaps her fingers a few times to herself with reminder, "Oh. Oh. I need to know something-- Dre afraid of creepy clowns? Found a vintage Pez dispenser I thought I'd slide his way, but if he's afraid of clowns, probably looking at a backfire."

Not that anyone asked him, but Graham is happy to tell the people by the counter - the barista, Abitha, anyone else, "You know what coconuts don't have? Tits. Which means coconuts? Don't make milk. They make juice." His tone has a real 'in your face' quality to it, but also a real 'quiet enough that Elise can pretend not to hear him' quality to it; he really walks quite the tight-rope, this guy. Anyway, he gets their drinks and spends a second confirming with the worker that this one, this one right here? Doesn't have real milk in it, right? Good, he gives it to Elise and huddles protectively over his own cup.

"That's fair," he agrees with Lilith. "You ever see me in yoga shorts, and I'll grant you some free objectification." He smiles all super-bright-and-pretty, which pairs nicely with the glib answer he has for Andre and clowns; "Dunno, but you could always give it to him and find out. Just. Yanno. Be sure you got health insurance, in case it turns out that he is afraid of 'em. But all that aside. What the fuck, where's my random presents?"

Called out! Red Alert! You could almost hear the exclamation point pop over Abitha's head with accompanying MGS-style MIDI trumpets. She wheels back toward Lilith at hearing her name, eyes a little widened with surprised.

"Uh, yes. Abitha." Each word was quick and terse as she gets her social bearings shakily, "Mac, usually, though. I own the Control Pad." Because she defines her life by her tangible accomplishments like every other human, right? This makes normal conversation. She now takes another step closer to offer a straight-armed hand for a shake to Lilith, "But I don't think I've actually said hi... To-ooo anyone." Abitha awkwardly realizes, face now turning to the other ones, Elise first, offering a nervous attempt at a smile. Her eyes pinch a bit as that smile turns on Graham and his... Humor. "Hi!" Finally.

The dagger eyes that Elise turns on Graham makes it obvious that she's not going to pretend to not hear him. But they are at the very least affectionate knife-eyes; she's gonna stab him with loooveeee. "Jesus, how many times do we have to have this conversation? I was one-hundred-and-twenty percent positive you'd drop the whole 'almonds don't have tits' thing after I brought up the whole dairy industry controversy, somebody save me," she looks up to the heavens for inspiration, finds nothing there, and mumbles quite a bit of bad words in Thai as she steps over to a nearby empty table to claim as her own. "For what it's worth, he looks terrible in shorts," she mentions to Lilith as she sits, "But put that man in yoga pants and.." she doesn't exactly wolf whistle, but everyone can get the gist based on the look she passes over Graham. Piece of meat, that's what he is.

Then, she clears her throat and straightens, beaming a smile to Abitha at her awkward hello. "Hi. Is that the game store, the Control Pad? I've passed by a few times."

Lilith nods a singular, accepting time to Graham's offer on 'fairness' when it comes to nut-hugging short shorts and proper due responses. Then her eyes kind of squint with mascara-darkened cut of thinking on whether or not she wants to risk giving a big ass Andre a clown-creep Pez dispenser because face it, if he's scared, she's getting popped, if he's excited, she's getting her guts squeezed out, potentially, with that excitement, "... I'm into crazy ideas lately, I'm doing it. And if you want random pawn oddities... yeah, you know what? I should be fair. I'll double shot that bag with unique vintage gifts."

Lilith doesn't say what that other things she has in mind or store to be sticking in for Graham, though, so he might regret complaining. Or he'll get something awesome! Granted, the woman deals in either actual pricy stuff to restore and sell, or pure junk, so there's no telling. Anyway, Abitha is coming out for a shake and after a quick drink of the cappuccino she's nursing, she leans forward to take the hand for brisk shake, "Saw you in the ah. You know. Factory. Glad you're up and walking after all that and whatever else this place has to throw at you."

The woman then turns an amused grin at Elise's commentary on what her man does and doesn't look good in, tipping a knowing nod, "Mmmhmm. I love my piece of manly man in his suits, but those fitted running pants he wears are something else. You know. When I actually wake up early enough to go with his fine self-disciplined ass. Probably why yoga is also a good idea-- I can lay in bed and not feel lazy comparatively if I go do a class or something later after skipping a run with him."

She seems about to ask about the nature of the Control Pad herself, too, but Elise covers that and she looks at Abitha curiously, "Video games or board games or everything games?"

Graham looks terrible in shorts. "It's 'cause I'm super white." His coffee-free hand lifts up the cuff of his jeans enough to show off a very white ankle, even while he informs Elise, "Which. By the way. I'm pretty sure makes you racist." Don't even ask. It makes sense to Graham. He sips his coffee like a good boy, eyes going back-and-forth between Elise and Lilith while they OBJECTIFY ALL THE THINGS, rabble (though Lilith will get a quick beam when she promises to give him presents; his materialistic little soul is appeased), then his attention bounces right on over to Abitha to echo, "Hi! The control pad to what?"

Oh.

"Oh. The store. Got it. That's that place over on Spruce? You do a lot of business over there?" Seems like honest, conversational interest.

"'Factory' is a nicer thing to call that." Abitha confirms with a nod and a tight, stressed smile. She taps her temple briefly, then aims a finger at Lilith, "I think you had it worse off, so I think the Grats go to you on that. Uh..." She considers all the other questions.

"Video gaming. Comic shop kinda had a lot of the board gaming and whatnot covered and it want really my forte, so... Stayed out of it. Plus TCG players kinda smell?" She scrunches her nose at thought, "And I do ok. Shop breaks even. Kinda hard for brick and mortar, yaknow." She pauses as her eyes bounce quickly between the three.

"And I'm just rambling about my shop at this point. Someone else talk about their job so I can ask pointed questions." Nervous smile. So graceful.

"I've been running in the morning. So much nicer now that winter's finally over. I also can't get his ass out of bed to run with me, either, so.." There's a long sigh at Graham, a few bats of her lashes, and then a roll of her eyes when he calls her a racist. Mind you, she doesn't say she's not a racist. She just sips her coffee instead, narrowing her eyes at Graham when he asks about how much business Abitha does. "No," she says firmly, in a very 'bad dog, sit' sort of way. What she's saying no about is anybody's guess. She squints at him, shakes her head, and turns back to Lilith and Abitha. "I'm just a nurse, sooo... I'd rather not talk shop," she admits. Then, curiously to both of the women: "What happened in the factory? Do you both work part time at the sawmill or something?"

There's a little shrug about how worse off she might have been at the time mentioned, but there's a nice distraction in there that makes her forget to dwell over what that particular being left behind when she had at her. Instead, Lilith sputters a little over her next drink when Abitha notes the smellies of the nerd world, just barely containing her laugh given the woman drops it like a piece of job hazard to avoid and carries on with conversation.

Eyeing Graham's white ass ankle when he shows it, she fans at her face in brief, then points to the table legs on the coffee shop's table, "You know. Ankles used to be salacious back in the day. That's why you see a lot of antique tables with decoratively rounded or shapely legs, and most of them will have a tablecloth drape of some kind of be 'suitable' cover. They're supposed to peek, not display, even now when we have full tits on the television." There's the man's random history knowledge for the day from a Pawn Star, he should feel so much smarter for that little informative byline, spurred by his ankle flash.

Lilith makes an 'mm' noise at the nurse part from Elise, though, nodding a little easily. Broken bodies are generally just a pain in the ass for her to occasionally deal with, not a medical interest or anything. But after the next question, she looks a little closer at (through?) the other woman before deciding how to answer, "Hah, no. It was a factory off in..." The woman's hand makes a little fanning gesture to indicate 'elsewhere' in that strange GH way, "I guess, in a sense, we shut down a pretty nasty slaughterhouse. It was hectic, you know how things go here." She's probably just assuming the woman knows wtf she means by that, and if not, well, it sounds like there was some illegal slaughterhouse and she's ordering 'nut milk' and is probably an advocate for shutting down such things, so it's maybe only moderately confusing if it appeals to morals instead!

"So you sell, like, Playstations and - " 'Other easily burgled things' is probably not exactly where he was headed, but roughly in that direction, hence the magnificent innocence that brightens Graham's angelically blue eyes when Elise makes with the chastising. "I'm just taking an interest in local business, baby. Relax." Since they're on the subject of careers, he decides that, "I work at the sawmill. Janitorial services. It's not a bad gig, free urinal cakes." That deserves a thumbs-up, so he gives it one real quick.

He totally listens to Lilith's history lesson. The whole thing. His eyes might have glazed by the end, but he's still quick to tell her cheerfully, "One more reason I'm glad I don't live in the past. Ankles being sexy, that's some bullshit." He rolls onto his toes, looks right down Elise's top, drops back onto the flats of his feet and nods a firm nod that agrees with himself, some bullshit. He has no idea what to do with the slaughterhouse conversation, so he'll just be over here, looking down Elise's top more and drinking his coffee with ACTUAL MILK.

Abitha's eyes flit from Graham's questions to Elise. She couldn't get him out of bed, he's asking questions about video games. Clearly, he was enough of a deadbeat, Elise didn't want him slumming his days on the couch, controller in hand. It was almost a verbal whip-crack. What else could you assume about the situation? Abitha pulls her lips into a flat line and shrugs innocently at Elise. Girl's gotta eat. "Yes. All current gens and PC parts." She answers Graham, then makes a deadpan face at the urinal cake crack before looking to the adults in the conversation. Oh great, but they're back on sex again. Until they weren't.

"S'cool though. No more factory, and made new friends. So... wasn't all bad?" Abitha shrugs and takes a sip of her drink, one hand shoved into a jacket pocket casually.

"Uh huh," Elise says to Graham's angelic blue eyes, clearly not believing his bullshit. Buuuuut in spite of the dull, unentertained tone in her voice? The longer she looks at those blue eyes, the more endeared she is by him. This is obviously Elise's problem, those eyes of his get her every time. There's a smirk at the talk of ankles being sexy, and she leans back in her seat, saying to Lilith: "I'm personally glad that we live in a day and age where I can beat his ass for showing off his ankles in public, and not the other way around," she grins, tilting her head back to flutter lashes at Graham, before the talk about random illegal slaughterhouses brings her focus back to the here and now.

"Whoa, wait, what? There was an illegal slaughterhouse in Gray Harbor?" Her eyes widen slightly. "And this wasn't on the news? Are you in some kind of conservation club or something? Where the hell were the police? I swear, this town is getting worse and worse by the second."

"Mmhm, I personally like having toilets. Outhouses would have made me grumpy and I'm an awful kind of grump." Lilith says to Graham in a very fuck-the-past kind of tone while draining her coffee and reclaiming her danish to pick into a few bite size pieces, pre-emptively, atop her napkin. After picking up one of those pieces to pop in her mouth and eat, she looks at Abitha's mention of new friends and seems to be reminded of one thing or another, the way she kind of lasers in with keen focus on the game store owner for a good few heartbeats. Then after batting it off with a few quick lash flutters, she looks back over at Elise with a twitch of her lips in smile.

She focuses on the whole 'beating Graham' angle instead of saying anything more than a little 'handled' kind of shrug at Elise when it comes to slaughterhouses of doom, "If you want him to behave and really catch him offguard, go for the nipple pinch and twist, they never really see it coming and get all sputtery about it after the initial flail." She pauses and sits up a little bit to press hand flat against her middle, between chest and stomach, "Though, if he's standing and you can get a good solar plexus jab in the soft spot between middle bits, they make a lovely winded noise. Satisfying."

Suddenly, Lilith tips her head after the protips, "Wow, that sounds like I beat my boyfriend."

Just so everyone knows, Graham is NOT getting beat tonight, he's able to fend off all fourteen pounds of Elise and escape unscathed! But he might still get himself arrested later, can't rule that one out yet. He drops his chin on his hand, his elbow on the table, and continues asking Abitha totally casual questions about her small business. "Current gens and PC parts. Games, too?" Those angelic blue eyes of his, the ones that lash-bat one last time at Elise, settle all full of coffee-shop-appropriate smiles upon Abitha. "It's a small store though, innit? Not like GameStop or whatever. Last time I went to GameStop, they tried to make me sign up for some kinda club. You don't have one of those dumb 'gimme your phone number' clubs, do you?"

Having only been listening to the part about the slaughterhouse with half an ear (at best), he blinks at Elise suddenly when she gets all affronted and says whatever about the police. "I'm pretty sure cops got better shit to do than shut down slaughterhouses, El. This town is lousy with actual criminals, not just whatever..." He trails off into a mumble that includes the words 'got a bunch of hippies' panties in a twist this week.' Also, Lilith, "What did I ever do to you?" With all the pouting. 🙁

"Nope, just the systems. And tacos. Lots of tacos." Abitha delivers her sarcasm deadpan, because she totally didn't understand he was a criminal pumping her for information. She just thought he was being a bit of a shit. Her eyes sweeping to Lilith to catch the look, quirking a brow briefly to ask, "What?" At the woman's momentary interest. She shrugs it off though when intends.

"No." Theres a quick glance in Elise's direction, even if the answer was meant for Graham, hiding a smile behind a cup, "No clubs. Don't want your phone number. God, I fucking hate GameStops. That's why I even opened my own store." Her tongue comes out in a gagging motion after the assertion.

"Hey, whatever you're into, I guess." is the sideways snark aimed at Lilith.

"I vastly prefer waiting until he's got his back turned and then jumping on his back spider monkey style. You can grab both nipples that way and get a real good hold," Elise casually discusses boyfriend abuse to Lilith across the coffee table, holding out both hands and twisting imaginary Graham nipples to demonstrate. The smile she shows Graham is all saccharine-sweet, it'll go well with his cow coffee. At least the conversation about beating Graham has distracted her from the slaughterhouse subject. Less so from Graham trying to get the 4-1-1 on Abitha's store. "It sounds like a pretty awesome store," she directs this to Abitha, canting her head and asking all innocent like: "Does it cost a lot to keep running? I imagine all the security you must have is pretty damn expensive. You need, what? Cameras, alarms." With a pause, she glares at Graham again. "Maybe even an armed guard! Can't be too careful in this town."

Lilith chuckles a little bit helplessly at Graham's look and question, as well as Abitha's snarky snark, then pops the rest of her danish into her mouth before dusting her hands off to one side and cleaning up crumb absently from the tabletop with a napkin, "I'm being helpful, it's not like I'm saying go for the kidneys. Graham might find himself into it."

Then Elise is stating preference and imitating the act and it makes Lilith pick up her napkin to wad up in hand before pointing a hand indicatively that way with brief show of enthusiasm, "See. We're bonding. That's all it is. Women bonding... over violent tendencies." There's a beat of pause before the woman's eyes flit to the door with thought, "Maybe I should seriously make a point to stop by and look at the yoga studio and see if zen is a real thing for me."

As far as video game stores and securities, Lilith mostly hears tacos, "So are the tacos a certain day of week or do you have a food truck parked out there?"

"So you sell game consoles and tacos? Erm." Graham scratches the back of his head busily, like he's really thinking hard about Abitha's business model. "I guarantee you, baby, if she's selling Playstations and Mexican food? There's no fucking way she's got a security guard at that shop." That's his professional opinion as the janitor at the sawmill. His dubious squint goes from Elise to Abitha, and he asks (LIKE HE'S JUST TRYING TO PROVE ELISE WRONG), "You don't, do you?"

Then Lilith is talking about punching him in the kidneys and - like it just occurred to him - he goes, "Speaking of security guards, doesn't your old man own the apartments over on Bayside? They still getting ransacked every other weekend?" BECAUSE THEY WILL BE NOW!

Abitha offers a shrug to this totally innocent conversation where mommy and daddy are totally not fighting completely in subtext. Because she has the social awareness of a frog. Like one of those frogs with the skin poison thingy. "No. I dunno, just the sales pays for running it. Cameras and motion sensors were easy enough to set up, and coding a security system? Mag strips are surprisingly easy to use, yaknow? Why pay when you can just set up your own?" Which was either a good or bad thing. No one really knew how competent Mac was at wiring, and you probably couldn't tell by looking.

Her attention is drawn away again to Lilith, "I play video games for my violent tendencies." Sip. "Yaknow, I was joking, but is there a taco truck I could get to park outside? Like, I used to love those Rodeos in Seattle. I don't even care if it brings in business."

"I like you," Elise says to Lilith with a small laugh. "You could always just come to yoga with me. I'm paying for two, might as well actually go with another person. Does G have your number?" Speaking of G, she rolls her eyes at him, even if Abitha goes and proves his point. "It sounds like a good, solid security system though. The kind people shouldn't mess with, yanno?" And then Graham starts talking about Bayside, and Elise just stares at him, in the 'are you fucking kidding me?' sort of way. But it seems like Elise has lost her ninja powers, because when she attempts to sneak her hand under the table and pinch him on the thigh, she smacks her hand into his nuts instead. Oops.

Lilith squints at Graham, starts to lift her cup for a drink and finds it empty, "... been pretty quiet around there lately, thankfully. But now I'm wondering what he looks like on a motorcycle since you went calling him my 'old man' and I think I'm going to make it happen just for sexy mind fodder." Lifting her cup in the air, she waves it a little to get the barista's attention from afar and makes a 'two' gesture with her fingers, then points at the door. Two of them ordered to go, speaking of her 'old man'. Seemed to remind her she was going to take him some daytime fuel wherever he may be with his suited self.

She doesn't look in a hurry to get up and put on her jacket or anything yet, though, she's just kind of thinking ahead and re-upping for herself at the same time. Slinging an arm against the back of her chair, she clicks her tongue at Abitha, "Got me all excited about tacos and video games. Honestly, having one outside might not be a terrible business kind of setup if you knew a person willing and interested. Switch and bait for the door and a free stream of food while you're at work." Head shaking a little, she muses, "You should take the gold and throw up the public notice of interest-- I work on Elm, so I can't steal that business model idea. Someone will steal the truck or graffiti it with dicks. Happens."

Then Lilith is plain amused by the under the table grab/slap/pinch action she can't quiet see but can tell is happening because she's sneaky abusive herself like that, here and there. It might be a definitive decider on what she returns with, "Pretty sure I like you too. We can totally yoga. Think Graham should have the number, but..." Leaning to grab a pen up from her purse, she writes on the back of a pizza receipt to pass over, "Let me know what class blocks you go to, we'll sync up."

"So your security system is completely homebrewacha!" The last bit of that was Graham reacting to the incoming pinch with karate-chop noises and an actual karate chop. Unfortunately for him, it results in his hitting Elise on the hand, and Elise's hand making impact with a part of his body that he values EVEN MORE than he values finding out how hard it'll be to rob Abitha. He is going to spend the rest of the pose with his arms folded on the table and his head laying down on top of them, crying into the safe space he's created for himself.

If it ever becomes relevant: he totally has Lilith's number under 'pawnshopchick' in his phone, but later it's going to be 'FuckDisBitch' on account of he's pretty sure it's her fault he just got whacked in the nuts.

Abitha is just kind of staring at Graham in confusion as he gets nut-tapped. Her eyelids dip and reopen in the most theatrically possible slow blink. We've all seen that meme. She looks at Lilith, then Elise. She snorts and takes another sip of her coffee.

"Oook, and on that note, I'm gonna go." She hadn't actually sat this entire time? Awkward, right? Well, it's better for a quick getaway anyhow. "You've given me a lot to think about." She remarks, tipping her cup to Lilith, then sweeps it in Elise's direction, "And you simply have my admiration."

She looks down at Graham with a bit of a judgemental look, "And you... Stop trying to buy video games, your girlfriend already thinks you're useless. Stop giving the rest of us a bad name." She does that little finger-curly Sombra-esque wave, and turns to go celebrate the day with cake, intense make-up and plastic lightsabers.

As it was intended.

Elise shouldn't laugh - she should be absolutely horrified! But the wide-eyes go well with the snickering laughter that bubbles up, though she tries very hard to push it back down. "Oh, shit! Sorry G, I guess I smacked when I should've grabbed," it's not much of an apology, but there's one there beneath all the giggles she's trying to swallow away. Down her hand goes into his hair, petting him gently, before she hops to her feet, plucking the pizza receipt as she goes. "I think that's our cue to leave, too. Uh, it was nice meeting you," to Abitha, "And I guess I'll see you at yoga?" to Lilith.

But the whole video game thing makes her suddenly burst out into laughter. Like, it's almost painful how hard she's laughing all of a sudden. "Aww, come on you useless baby," she teases Graham, grabbing his arm to pull him up from his seat. "Let's go home and play Super Smash Bro." Not Bros. There's a difference.

It's really not Lilith's fault that she cracks the hell up when Graham is miserable, it's not. First of all, he karate chopped with a 'noise' to accompany, which made her initially press lips and hold back, but once he's leaned over the table in misery with Elise starting to crack up too, it's domino effect. She's totally unabashed about it too, like she's delighting in the little fray she might have accidentally (on purpose) encouraged once she realized his woman was a little fiesty. And as a fiesty piece herself, she knows how to proxy live that life, maybe. Either way, it seriously makes her laugh, and she nods a couple of quick times with agreement at the yoga bit as her two to-go coffee cups are brought over.

Still laughing, she makes a little d'aw noise at Graham getting pets and promises to smash things all better, then pushes up into a stand to get back into her running windbreaker, "Sounds good, Elise. And Abitha, your number is public because of the shop, huh? I was going to ask you about something, but it can be later. I should get this coffee to Byron while it's hot." Then to Graham, she at least sucks up a little bit on account of the laughter (and in the name of thug-gift-fairness), "Seriously, I'm sending you something with Andre's present, just you wait for it. Everything will be all better because presents, right?" Right!

"See you guys."

Graham limps out. He gives Lilith the finger, but it's at least halfway with <3

The other half is definitely busy thinking about a little light B&E at the Bayside Apartments tonight.